The Universities at Shady Grove (USG)

Even if the answer to the above question is no (highly doubt that for college students), getting money is never a bad thing, right?

Having been supported by a modest salary throughout my childhood, I learned to save from a very young age. When I started to work at age 16, I understood the value of money on a different level.  As Kanye West put it, “Having money’s not everything, not having it is”. Whether you are paying for your own tuition or whether your parents are helping finance your education, applying for scholarships never hurts. In a few days, if not already, we will be on winter break, which means there will be plenty of time to apply for the USG scholarship open to all students.

The deadline for this is December 31, 2016. Click here to apply.

I hope everyone enjoys their break, and has a happy holiday!

Although, in the United States shark fin soup is not permitted from being sold some restaurants still continue to sell it.  Restaurants owner’s that decide to sell shark fin soup are operating on a bad decision and planning practices because the sharks reproductive cycle takes from one year up until two years to produce offspring. This means that sharks are being killed faster than they can reproduced each year. The main ingredient is dwelling down and restaurants owners will have to eventually pay more for the shark fins and the return on investment will decrease. Restaurant owners are also contributing to the collapse of the ecosystem by removing sharks which play an essential role in the ocean. Sharks are the healers of the sea. Sharks serve as the immune system for our ocean. Removing sharks affect the marine life, which has a direct and indirect consequences to all life on earth. If sharks were valued for their worth as a species, sharks could provide environmental and economic growth to the world and humanity. Palau has recognized the worth of sharks and has invested in protecting their business partners. Due to the smart business decision Palau, has a thriving multi-million dollar industry because of the flourishing ecosystem that the sharks protect.

Sorry for writing about this again I just wanted to make sure people knew about this. Say no to shark fin soup. Coming from Hawaii I have to talk about this its my duty. 

Also, I don’t mean hurt anyone’s feelings or disrespect anybody’s culture. I just wanted to provide information that might help people.

With winter break having officially begun last Monday for pharmacy students, I have no exciting campus events to write about. So today’s post is a little different. I’d like to tell you about how two years ago, I came to the decision of choosing Shady Grove (Rockville) over Baltimore. I’m sorry if you love Dickens and thought that this would be about London and Paris! Speaking of which, I’m in need of some good reading material over break, so please comment if you have any suggestions for me.

Alright, back to Baltimore and Shady Grove. When a student is accepted to the University of Maryland (UMB) School of Pharmacy, as long as space is still available at both locations, they have the opportunity to preference either the main campus in Baltimore or the satellite campus in Shady Grove. For me, this was no easy decision to make. I could think of so many ways in which one city makes more sense than the other. I weighed both options to the best of my ability, and also reached out to current UMB Pharmacy students I knew for additional insight.

The majority of selected students choose Baltimore, which offers the traditional UMB experience. This includes going to classes often, living with roommates, and regularly exploring the city to find amazing restaurants and cafes. It means you’re right there at the center of everything. Most pharmacy school events, whether social or community service oriented, take place in Baltimore. It means easier access to professors which, aside from visiting office hours, also leads to more research and clinical shadowing opportunities.

Now let’s talk about Shady Grove. Before even setting foot on the campus, I knew that choosing this option would mean saving an enormous amount of money as it’s close enough to family for me to live at home. Parking, prior to this year, was also completely free for anyone and everyone. Shady Grove is the suburbs, an environment that I grew up in and am very familiar with (aka no one way streets!). It’s certainly safer, relative to Baltimore, and quieter, which I like to say better fits my personality.

But it wasn’t until I actually made the decision to attend USG and after several months on the campus, did I realize how right this decision had been. I love Priddy library, the Green Grove Cafe, and the friendly USG staff. I love having a good relationship with the few pharmacy professors who are based at Shady Grove. I love all the fun, non-pharmacy specific, events that happen here. I love that the 20 or so of us in the Shady Grove Class of 2019 get along so well.

No one campus is perfect, each has its own perks and disadvantages. But for those of you who are thinking about attending USG for any one of its 80 programs and have happened to stumble upon this post, I hope I’ve given you at least one reason to more seriously consider our beautiful campus.

Happy holidays, everyone! Can’t wait to share more stories with you in 2017!

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

It’s true. Sometimes we don’t know what other people are going through. Our classmates, coworkers, or whoever we come into contact with each day may be facing some challenges in their lives so it is important for us to treat everyone with kindness and consideration. Especially for students in health and human services majors, it is good to have good insight into issues that are prevalent in the communities we serve.

The Universities at Shady Grove provides us with an opportunity to take a closer look into the poverty in our community by hosting a Poverty Simulation. Several programs at our campus joins together to host this special event, where participants live the lives of families who are living in poverty and disparities, and volunteers act as service providers. You can read more about this event in my blog post from last year called “Poverty is not just for the poor“.

My role was a receptionist who works for Social Services. I had to turn people away, make them wait for a while, or create additional hardships for them. Through the simulation, families had their children taken away, lost their jobs, were evicted, and had to come social services for additional help. I firsthand saw how frustrating this was for the participants, and to think, they’re only roleplaying. Imagine what it must be like in real life and how difficult it must be to live in such hardships. I’m sure most of us has our fair share of struggles too, and that’s why it is especially important to be conscientious. Everyone’s fighting some kind of battle. We should treat everyone with respect and be kind to each other.

Let’s try walking in others’ shoes!

Click here to view photographs of the Poverty Simulation.